


Love conquers all

by Fayland



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Cloud has agnosia, Implied Cannibalism, M/M, Sephiroth is a monster, 沙耶の唄 | Saya no Uta parody
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:14:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24504466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fayland/pseuds/Fayland
Summary: After the great battle with Sephiroth (in Advent Children), one day Cloud wakes up with agnosia--causing him to see the world as covered in flesh and gore, and everyone including all his friends as hideous monsters. Magnifying this nightmare, Sephiroth comes back. He remains the same despite the rest of the world,  becoming the only pretty creature in Cloud's eyes.
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Kudos: 55





	1. Angel Coming

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Love conquers all](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/628156) by kiss♣. 



> Parody of Saya no Uta. If you don't know that story, Google it before you proceed--or at least proceed with caution. Don't say I didn't warn you (or anything not nice).

The little girl was excited like a cheerful honeybee.

“Can we go to the church together?” Her brown eyes were filled with joy, she extended her arm to catch the sleeve of the person next to her, pulling it sweetly, “The flowers are blooming beautifully there, aren’t they? I want to bring some back!”

Then she turned to the light brown haired boy for support, “It’s been a long time for Danzel too, right? Let’s go together! It must’ve become prettier than before.”

The lively girl got patted on the head by a pair of gloved hands, “Marlene, Cloud just got back from a long mission, let him rest a little first.” Tifa smiled at the guy sitting next to the table, asking worryingly, “Was the mission too tough? You look so pale. ”

“…What?”

The blonde muttered barely a sentence as the reply, as if he had just woke up from his own world and realized he was being addressed.

The arm held by Marlene tensed up subconsciously — it’s lucky there was a wide sleeve to cover the reaction up; otherwise there could be trouble. He seemed to be holding something back.

He glanced away from the girl, avoiding eye contact. His blue eyes were vaguely staring at the dart board on the wall. He was so pale that he seemed ready to collapse at any second. The dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced than last time. There seemed to be smog inside his usually shining eyes. After the great battle with Sephiroth, he had finally become more energetic again and now those energies were gone.

It was almost like his body could not hold his broken soul anymore. Any tiniest action could make him vanish into thin air.

“Are you not feeling well, Cloud?” the boy asked delicately, passing him a glass of water. “Those missions must be exhausting. You don’t have to rush to check on us after a mission. You should take care of yourself first.” 

Cloud’s eyelashes flickered slightly, and his lips tightened into thin lines. He took the water from Danzel, whispering a thank you. He then switched back into the same condition, eyes wandering, like being trapped in a carapace made of an empty sense of despair. 

“Exactly — since Cloud can’t take care of himself, we have to drag him here!” the little girl pouted, jumping off the stool and running to Tifa, who had a concerned look — and pulling at her clothes, “With Tifa’s cooking, Cloud will get better, right?” 

“Plus, today we are serving Cloud’s favorite stew. Danzel and I helped with it too. It must be tastier than normal.”

Surprisingly, Cloud seemed to be burned by that statement. His hand covered his mouth, face becoming even paler, “Sorry, I just realized there is some unfinished job. I have to go.”

The fearful tone and evasive attitude made the already tense air drop to a freezing point. Cloud nodded to the two kids, and then left Seventh Heaven in a rush. He did not even talk to the raven haired girl the whole time.

To be specific, he **fled** Seventh Heaven in a rush.

The remaining three stared at the table silently for a while. Marlene’s eyes were full of tears, but she was still trying to hold them. Even Danzel couldn’t hide his disappointment, looking down, fingers playing with the corner of his shirt.

“His job is really demanding, isn’t it?” The raven haired girl rubbed the kids hair, smiling. The kids looked up at her. “The adult world is really cruel. Even Cloud has some things he can’t handle. But that’s nothing Marlene and Danzel need to worry about. Leave that to us adults.”

She clapped her hands to sweep the uncomfortable air, “Now, who wants some stew?”

As the two kids started smiling again, Tifa quietly felt relieved. She finally calmed the kids down. 

But the problem wasn’t resolved—

No one understood how abnormal Cloud had been acting as well as his childhood friend Tifa — after the great battle with Sephiroth, he had agreed to move back to Seventh Heaven, but then one day, he suddenly rejected the idea again with some flimsy excuse of “the cargo he delivers is too dangerous, so he can’t move back”. He did not even move back to the church. Instead, he’d been wandering on the street everyday like a vagrant. No matter how they pressed him, Cloud had a determined mind, leaving no room to maneuver. If she hadn’t dragged him forcefully to Seventh Heaven today, he might have just disappeared…

Additionally…

She checked on the kitchen — the kids were in there arguing boisterously over who got too much meat. She put the glass Danzel gave Cloud away, trying to not draw anyone’s attention. 

From that day, Cloud never consumed anything in front of them anymore.

Wasn’t beating Sephiroth something worth celebrating? Why did he still look so gloomy? The Cloud who smiled under the sunshine, what happened to him without us? 

If you wanted to escape, I would bring you back; if you doubted whether you deserved happiness, I would make everyone spoil you with happiness; if you got trapped in the nightmare from past, I would wake you up and tell you everything has passed; we can’t be defeated by memories.

We are companions, aren’t we?

So, tell me what happened, Cloud.

******

The blond walked on a normal street, alone, looking up.

Wiggling, trembling flesh was everywhere; rotten stinky smell lingered in the air; the noise of every step slopping onto the ground was insufferable.

It did not look like the chopped meat cubes just fresh out of the fridge. Instead, the off-colored piles of flesh were covered with cyst like growths of different size, tentacles of different thickness and length growing out from between them. As each of them talked and moved, the tentacles and flesh trembled. Squeaky noise and other weird noise mixed together. It was unclear what they really should have looked and sounded like.

But if you tried really hard to listen to “them”, you would find that they were not totally speaking a different language. You could understand them a little. Thanks to that, the conversation in Seventh Heaven with Tifa and the others could continue and did not just drop dead.

…Supposedly Tifa and the others.

He could only see three gross globs of flesh at the time. Each glob was a slightly different size, so he could assume the smallest glob was Marlene.

It was impossible to recognize her once-cute facial features anymore. The clear innocent voice had disappeared along with the adorable appearance. He could only hear hissing sounds instead. 

And Tifa, the beautiful and elegant woman was replace by a glob of gore and flesh with unidentified growths. When she talked to him, “her” bloodshot eyes stared at him, humming with shivers, and her whole existence stunk with vomit. He had to move his eyes from her —to the similarly gross walls covered with gores and intestines— scared to leak any distaste from his face. 

How ridiculous. He was now disgusted by his companions he sworn to protect forever.

It had been so long since the day of change. Cloud had lost track of time, just living his life unconsciously, wishing it was all just a nightmare or some prank from some materia. However everyday he woke up to the same gruesome world.

Countless nights had been spent in grieving, despair, and loneliness resulting from this change. He wanted to fight back, but he couldn’t find anyone to whom he could divulge his fear. He had thought to just end everything, but the image of the sorrowful face of his friends, learning that he gave up everything, stopped him. In addition, Aerith wouldn’t forgive him for being so weak.

He couldn’t let his friends know what was wrong with him, because they had already been so worried about him. The world was finally peaceful. Let them enjoy the hard-won joy.

Worse, the more people knew about his condition, the more dangerous it became. Tifa and his friends would never betray him, but what if someone else found out? It would be miserable if the science department knew about this — somewhere he definitely hated to return.

Everyday, he spurred himself on, desperately trying to find some motivation to live.

He had tried all kinds of Heal materia — none had worked. It implied that the hideous hell in his eye was not just a mishap caused by man, but something more internal. Without any trustworthy researchers, he could not do anything but live on.

Maybe Loz’s bullet caused some irreversible damage? Or it could be Geostigma. Maybe uncleared residue in his body caused this.

No, he should not doubt Aerith’s ability.

…The worst possibility—it’s some sequela from that man.

No matter how unbelievable it was, honestly, assuming the man behind all this was Sephiroth, everything became reasonable.

“I will... never... be a memory. ”

Was that the meaning of this statement? Although the body he possessed dissipated and returned to Life Stream, Sephiroth had to leave him this… ‘present’. He said he would give him despair. He really was a man of his word.

Cloud couldn’t forget, couldn’t avoid, and couldn’t escape. Though everything was so revolting in his eyes, “they” were normal in the world. The only abnormality was within himself.

Upon realizing he could not return to the normal world, the first thing he did was break the promise with Tifa and leave Seventh Heaven. He could just stay anywhere. Since everywhere had become like the inside of some dreadful monster, it didn’t matter where he stayed.

Except for the church, Aerith’s church.

That was the only place he could not let get stained.

Let that place stay the same as in memory — sun shining through the broken roof, flowers blooming through the cracked floor.

He couldn’t even continue his job. Not only had his clients become hideous monsters, but even the cargo turned into wiggling flesh mixed with organs. Cilia and dragging mucus stained his clothes. He couldn’t get rid of the rotten stink from himself. Even his Fenrir was wrapped in a nasty mucous membrane, blending with the flesh covered ground. He could not tell how handsome it was anymore. 

“How long can I hang on like this?” some internal voice questioned.

Another voice rebuked the first voice, “Don’t say that. Isn’t that the same as admitting defeat to that man? I can’t do that.”

“But, I can’t live like this anymore. All I can see is contamination; all I can hear is unidentifiable noise. There is no more reason to live on. ”

“Bullshit! Aren’t your friends worth you trying to live on? Think about how much they sacrificed for you. You are not just living for yourself.”

…

The world on top of the plate was probably in similar condition. Cloud drew his stare back down from the sky, realizing he had wandered to the church unknowingly.

…No, not here.

One look at this place totally opposite from memory made both voices in his head scream at him, asking him to leave. But the body moved on its own like someone possessed. His hand reached for the flesh covered handle. Feeling the weird touch totally different from the handle before, he pulled the gate open —

“Please, don’t destroy my last refuge …”

Cloud shut his eyes in desperation, persuading himself that although he could smell the rotten stink, as long as he didn’t see it he could tell himself that was all just an illusion.

That moment, Cloud felt something shatter inside him.

He was so familiar with the church that he didn’t need to see the place to walk around in it. He was roughly facing the old flower area. He could feel the sun, but there was no warmth in it. Only a cold suffocation feeling that gradually drowned him.

“Someone…”

“Someone help me …”

“Whoever, as long as — ”

“What, upon meeting your master, you’ve become so arrogant that you don’t even greet anymore?Cloud, what happened to your etiquette? ”

God heard his prayer, then, the one-winged black angel came.


	2. God's Whisper

That was a voice he could never forget.

Cloud had protected everyone and saved the planet multiple times. As time passed by,people started to forget the sorrow and agony from the past. Smiles started to appear again. But the voice of that man, the face of that man, even the vague sneer on that man’s face, was still clear as though he had never left. Cloud could picture that sneer anytime he closed his eyes.

It was a nightmare deep in the soul, a shadow in the memory, a scar that would never heal on his left arm.

But how long since he heard the voice of a human without weird buzzing? 

“What, you’ve become such a coward that you don’t even dare to open your eyes to check the truth anymore?”

It was the same old infuriating manipulative tone.

It might be inappropriate, but Cloud got excited at that tone — whatever happened to the planet, that man kept his same godly arrogant attitude.

The fear dissipated somehow.

Cloud’s light gold eyelashes fluttered, heart pounding. Despite the rotten stink in the air, he quietly took a deep breath, both hands in fists along his body, trying not to show any vulnerability before the other man — “Is this some new trick of yours again?” 

“Hmm…you could say it that way, since all of your misfortunes and despairs are from me.” Maybe it was because of the way Cloud really looked ridiculously pathetic. Sephiroth’s voice was saturated with joy. He was so leisurely that he babbled with nonsense. 

Was this reality or just his illusion?

“I don’t want a pointless argument with you. I only want to know, what have you done to me.” Cloud had never expected there would be a time they could talk _peacefully_ like this. The blonde even smelled some floral fragrance in some delusion. 

He heard some fabric rubbing, indicating the man moved a little—changed his posture or something. “If I’ve done something to you, wouldn’t you be the person the first to know? Cloud.”

“Don’t give me ambiguous answers.” Cloud’s tone was bland, with barely any emotion. He mocked, “How stupid am I, hoping to get answers from an illusion like you.”

He wanted to turn around and leave, but at that moment the other man’s causal voice reached him, “Why don’t you just open your eyes to confirm your doubts about my existence?”

For a while, silence suffused the air. 

As if to be considerate, the other man continued, “Confirm ‘my’ existence with your own eyes. There could be nothing easier than that. You can swing your sword at me, but you can’t dare to make sure that I am here?”

Could a phantom act so realistically? With doubt in the heart, Cloud betrayed no emotion, “You won’t be able to provoke me.”

“Ha, my puppet has grown.” The word _puppet_ made Cloud’s eyebrows twist, but the other man just continued as though he did not notice that, “The way you try to deflect reality is quite adorable.”

Determined to waste no more words on an illusion in his head, Cloud turned around, ignoring the weird squeaky sound under each step. He kept his eyes shut and walked to the gate.

“Leaving now?” The man kept talking from his behind, “Don’t worry, I will be here waiting for you.”

Anger inundated his head.

Cloud forgot what he had been telling himself, to treat the _illusion_ as the devil in his memory, “Get out! You are not allowed to be here!”

The tone was harsh, but with his closed eyes, the aggressive statement was ineffectual. He seemed like a helpless kitten who thought himself strong, swatting at a lion recklessly, meowing menacingly. 

So pathetic, yet so adorable.

The other man sniggered, observing victoriously that he had pushed the blonde to the edge, “What do you fear? Things can’t be any worse than they are right? Why not take a bet?” He paused, then added, “Take just this one bet in your life, Cloud, isn’t that your style?”

…Stop.

The man’s voice sounded like the hissing whispers from the snake to Eve, tempting her to consume the forbidden fruit. However, there was no repulsive cold-blooded creature, only a vortex of magnificent complex patterns drawing all your attention, deluding you, making you follow him to hell.

Cloud had not been able to resist this kind of charming witchery before; he couldn’t resist now either.

The pure white blind angel fluttered his eyes open to scan the world cautiously.

The once blooming spot had become a nest of soggy tentacles. These entwined slowly yet tenaciously, like a root system, twisting into each other indefinitely. The secreted mucus of the moving tentacles stained Cloud’s shoes and immediately leaving corrosive marks. But, they also seemed to hesitate since they didn’t to climb up to his leg. The broken roof looked different too. Instead of a big clean hole, countless blood-vessel-like nets parasitized the old rotten wood planks. They twitched to a certain rhythm, almost like a heart beating dark blood into the whole church.

Any merciful and loving god could no longer hear his followers’ prayers nor confessions. 

Everything around looked like hell. The only salvation was the man sitting on the throne of alien flesh. 

Even in such a dreadful and vile environment, he kept his arrogant posture, as if he didn’t care what he was sitting on. Long strands of silver hair spread casually on the alien objects, shimmering a reflection of the sun, totally different from the repulsive flesh. His fingers drummed to a beat only he could hear. His narrow eyes were half closed, eyelashes shadowing his perfect facial structure. Slit emerald pupils gazed at the young blonde standing not far from him, observing him with amusement.

Cloud had no heart left to care about the changed church that should have devastated him. All his attention was drawn by the man surrounded by odious tentacles. He couldn’t mumble even one sensible word. His whole mind went blank, only to stare at the only humanoid creature.

“…Sephiroth”

As if in a dream, even Cloud did not realize what he had murmured. Only the man on the throne heard his plea, “Very good, my puppet. How do you feel about the truth of this world?”

Everything was absurd.

The whole world was twisted and abhorrent in his eyes, but this man still remained the same as when they first met. If it had been anyone else, he would have dropped his fragile pretense and collapsed down to this deformed floor and wail. 

With everything having been said, there was no need for any more goading. Any one would be able to tell the blonde’s faith had left this world— his sapphire Mako eyes were full of shattered stars. The stars had been tossed down an ocean of depression, beaming for their last moment.

Deterioration or mercy, depravity or grace. At this moment, one man was god’s agent, smiling at you, kissing your forehead with his gaze, telling you, “May god be with you.” 

No one could resist Cloud’s desperate look, much less Sephiroth, who had already conjoined his everything with his dearest puppet.

Cloud looked like he had suffered a lot. It was a miracle he stayed sane, Sephiroth thought. Cloud was much paler than when they last met, thinner than before too. At one glance you could tell that he hadn’t been eating or sleeping well. With compassion, the god stepped off his throne. Flesh trembled under his boots, quivered to clear a route for him, bowing for Sephiroth’s sovereignty. 

“Good boy, there is nothing to be afraid of anymore.” Cupping Cloud’s face which was covered in tears, Sephiroth softly brushed away the sorrow, the tip of his nose lovingly touching Cloud’s tear filled eyelashes. He then moved his hands down, circling Cloud’s neck, “We are the same now. Finally.”

Anyone would be befuddled by those whispers. Even Cloud—whose instincts were screaming danger—closed his eyes, like a sacrifice waiting to be devoured.

But only for one second.

The next second, Cloud broke off. With amazing strength, he quickly pulled away from Sephiroth. He put his right hand on his giant sword, panting, “How do you stay the same? Sephiroth, when will you stop bothering me!”

Being questioned like this, Sephiroth chuckled even more happily, “The bond between us is not fragile.”

Cloud really wanted to just slash at that man and put up a fight, but he suppressed his killer instinct. He tried to cool down his overheated mind and thought about what to do now.

No matter how hard he tried to deny, the guy who stood in front studying him was the real Sephiroth, not an illusion. It felt so unrealistic for that guy to show any willingness to negotiate. He couldn’t just fight him, otherwise they would destroy the streets and bring horror into people’s lives again. People had just gotten back to their normal life. 

Considering that, Cloud drew his hand from the sword, staring dispassionately into Sephiroth’s eyes, “That doesn’t explain the current situation.”

“Welcome to my world.” Sephiroth sauntered back to his throne, sitting down, stretching his long legs, despite being surrounded in horror. “How do you feel about being so connected to Jenova?”

The vague reply made Cloud’s stomach sink — this matched his worst hypothesis. From his years’ knowledge of Jenova, he could deduce that this change would be irreversible. He tried to not think about what this meant, but it was futile. Despair stronger than ever before suffocated Cloud. He wanted to obtain more information, but something strangled his throat, he could not say anything so he mouthed silently.

The only motivation for him to keep going had vanished. Even though he had expected it, when the truth really struck, the sudden rush of torment was not softened. Cloud could barely hold himself together; long-suppressed exhaustion overwhelmed him. He stumbled, knelt down in the agony of a headache, left hand pressing his heart trying to relieve some chest pain. There were white spots in his vision. His stomach started twisting.

Sounding like he couldn’t understand Cloud’s reaction, Sephiroth asked in genuine confusion, “Why? You will get used to this world. You don’t have to act like this.”

Cloud almost shouted out “How could you get used to a thing like this!”, before his shutting-down brain grasped something, that made him look up to the man’s detached face in shock.

Cloud’s strange click allowed Sephiroth to immediately understand, “Ah, you finally noticed?” He looked at his puppet with empathy, deeply amused by his lost expressions, “That’s why I said — welcome to my world.”

Was the world always like this for Sephiroth? Or had it started at some point?

Staring blankly at the man, who seemed to be not caring at all, Cloud could not define what he was feeling right now—totally at a loss.

Cloud finally found someone with whom he could communicate openly in this hopeless world, but that someone was Sephiroth. Not only did he just learn he would never return to normal life, he learned that Sephiroth had been living this hell for an even longer time.

For a moment, Cloud almost could understand why the ex-general of Shinra went crazy.

But he couldn’t let someone like Sephiroth exist among normal people. The next second, Cloud realized what he needed to do.

He shook his head, trying to get rid of all irrelevant thoughts, then finally gathered his words, “So what are you doing here?”

The man did not answer his question. Instead, he brought out a glass of ‘wine’ from thin air. Though it still looked appalling, the unique fragrance of fermented grapes made Cloud — who had not been eating nor drinking normally for a long time — thirsty instantly, his eyes following the wine glass involuntarily. 

His gaze was so blunt. Sephiroth enjoyed the thirsty look of the blonde kitten, generously offering him another glass, “This is something edible I found after trying so many times.”

It was like a poisonous drink in the desert.

It was hard not to expect this was one of Sephiroth’s wiles. But Cloud wanted to believe that Sephiroth would normally prefer a straightforward fight over cunning tricks. 

“Why are you hesitating? This is one of my favorites.”

Cloud’s throat was smokey dry from thirst.

He couldn’t help but to start walking towards him and take the glass. Ignoring the weird touch of the container, Cloud took a small sip of the liquid, paused, then guzzled it all.

“Isn’t that delicious?”

Innocent Eve had listened to the snake’s whisper, had opened her mouth, and taken a bite of the forbidden fruit.


End file.
